by R. J. Batla
Celeste was still uncertain, but relented. They could always report it after the celebration. “Thank God you were able to use your Seaspeak. Is that the first time you’ve called sperm whales?” she asked, still wobbly but holding her own as they walked through the sand.
“No – er, yeah. I mean, at least that many.”
“Seaspeak is such an awesome gift. I’m still jealous!”
Bogata smirked. “Yeah, a lot of good it did me. I got into the academy because of it, but that’s all. Didn’t keep me from being last in every other test or training, and being the punching bag for everyone else but you. But enough about me – I can’t believe you ran the Gauntlet in that dingy! That’s just incredible.”
Celeste laughed and rolled her eyes. “Thanks. I might not have made the history books, but a thousand gold pieces and a sword will have to do. And I’m sure they’ll make me a captain now because of my good looks and awesomeness.”
Laughing and limping, they both suddenly cringed, pain shooting up their legs – maybe they were more hurt than they thought. The pair made their way slowly, merging onto the main road. It was a testament to the sheer number of Tempus here for the graduation ceremony, and the fact that Tempus training was tough, that none of them even batted an eye at the two tattered and bloodied twenty-three-year olds moving along among them. They constantly put power into their freeze bandages to keep them from melting in the midday sun.
After a couple minutes of walking, they heard from behind them: “You two look like you could use my services.” They turned to see an Elf, light purple skin and flowing clothes a drastic contrast to the sea of blue faces along the road. “Am I right?”
“Yes, sir, thank you!” Celeste sighed, relief flooding her. Suddenly she was exhausted and barely able to stand. All three moved off to a bench on the side of the path, the two Tempus sitting with a groan as their wounds hit the bench.
The Elf nodded and got to work, hands glowing with purple energy. Celeste moaned slightly as the pain ebbed, a slight stinging sensation accompanying each wound being healed. The pain quickly went away as the Elf worked his powers. In no time, she was more or less whole, and the Elf moved to Bogata.
In less than ten minutes, all of their injuries had been reduced to minor aches and pains – nothing they couldn’t handle. Thank God for those Elves – they could bring someone back from near death if they really tried.
“That should do you. I would recommend you change your clothes and…clean up. Squid ink has quite the pungent odor.” He stuck his nose in the air and continued on his way, disappearing instantly into the crowd.
The pair looked at each other and laughed, then heaved themselves up. They walked to their dorms at the Bastion, their limp now gone thanks to the healing power of the Elf. The road grew more crowded the closer they got to the capital of Watuaga, drawing funny looks from the more fancily dressed people headed to the different parties associated with the assignment ceremony. If the afternoon was anything like the morning, it was shaping up to be an eventful day.
Now healed up, the pair moved much faster. Along the way, they commented on all the people in town. Green Aeren, yellow Manu, red Phoenix, brown Dwarves, and quite a few human Senturians with their assorted powers could be seen scattered around, taking in the sites and doing a lot of pointing. But the majority of the people were Tempus – the water race of the ocean. The Helion of Ice and the Reka of the River, the two other water Races, rarely showed up for the graduation. A few might, but this was mostly a Tempus celebration, the other water peoples leaving them to themselves.
The groups and divisions within the Tempus Navy – Exploration, Deepwater, and Shoreline – could be found in vast numbers anywhere they looked, easily identified by the medals on their chests and left arms. In addition, those with family crests proudly wore them on their right shoulders. It wasn’t out of pride: the Tempus cared more about what you could do rather than what family you belonged to. Most of Tempus society supported the navy in some form or fashion, from supply acquisition and dock hands, to those crewing the ships.
Another patch on their chest showed what port they were stationed in. Most were from the two major ports –Watuaga on the east coast or Elmendorf on the west coast – but there was a plethora of smaller ports all over the East Side. With the only standing navy in Terraunum, the Tempus were the “Guardians of the Ocean,” patrolling and defending the East Side from any threats from the sea. And it was a job they took very seriously – so much so that there were relatively few pirates to disrupt trade and transport.
Nearing the Bastion facility, Celeste and Bogata eyed the harbor to the north.
“Would you look at that?” Celeste asked. “It always amazes me when the whole navy gathers. Have you ever seen so many ships?”
Hundreds of ships, everything from the smallest sloop to the latest ships of the line were anchored just off the docks or moored to them.
“Look there!” Bogata said, pointing. “There’s the Flying Fortress! And look, there’s the Pirate’s Nightmare! And look, over there, you can just see the flag from the king’s flagship, the Tempus Trident!”
The flag featured the white Tempus waves on a blue backdrop.
A look of determination came over his face. “I’ll stand on the deck of that ship one day. That’s a promise.”
“OK, calm down. You act like you’ve never seen a ship before,” Celeste said. Though they were impressive. The ships were enormous, even anchored as far out as they were, several masts jutting skyward, turning the horizon into a forest of wood and rope. She could see the four rows of gun ports on the side of the Flying Fortress, and pitied any pirate who came up against it. “It’s too bad they’re only here to watch us get our assignments.”
He scoffed. “No way, you’re thinking too much, acting like you have a big brain or something.”
Celeste laughed and shook her head, her dreadlocks swinging around behind her. The Bastion graduates getting their assignments may be the reason for all of this, but it’s not really the point. The month-long party and socialization is the real reason the whole country comes back home. Some of the more remote outposts only get back here this one time each year. Heck it’s already been going on for two weeks and people are still arriving!
He was right though – she was thinking too much. While the other Tempus, those not in the graduating class, were mainly here for the celebration, this was the one time of year that the whole nation gathered together.
And it was a different situation for her than for Bogata. Celeste was the top performer in their class. Boga was at the bottom; he’d barely passed the trials and graduated, his Seaspeak was the only thing making the higher-ups notice him at all.
Her stomach filled with butterflies just thinking about getting her assignment. Top performers always got the best gigs – she could be assigned as the navigator on one of the ships she’d just admired in the harbor, or they might let her lead a group of Tempus Fighters, those designated strictly to be soldiers on board the vessels and not sailors. Maybe they’d even make her a first mate – the first female first mate right out of the Bastion.
They walked along in silence, watching one ship sail east while four more went west. Celeste’s head practically bounced around with all the possible assignments she could get – the ships she would be on, the things she could see, the places she would go. The prospects buzzed in her head like a beehive. The crowds were thinner here, but they still had to fight their way through before finally arriving at the Bastion.
The school was a series of large square buildings, the furthest from the sea was the tallest and each subsequent building one story lower than the prior all the way down to the water, like a series of different colored steps for a giant. Each level housed a different department, like navigation, naval tactics, power manipulation, etc., and each was made of a different type of coral. It had taken the Dwarves, masters of the Earth element, and the Tempus working together to pull the coral from the seabed
and put it together correctly, but the sight was worth every bit of the effort.
As with all things Tempus, the Bastion revolved around the ocean. The naval academy sloped down right onto the beach, then dozens of piers and buildings shot out from the land onto the water, where ships of all sizes bobbed slightly in the small waves, creaking as the tides pulled at their mooring lines. There were small ships and large ones – all for nautical training exercises. The school trained its cadets to handle any vessel at any time, and they pushed the students hard. Even today, there were classes going on, despite the party.
Celeste sighed deeply – she remembered those days. That was her three years ago, young and full of self-confidence. The trainers broke that right quick, but they built it back up.
And now she would show everyone how much she’d learned.
“You’d better put your formals on, Celeste,” Bogata said as he ducked into the men’s barracks. “You know they’re going to have you do something special, Ms. Valedictorian.”
He wasn’t wrong: as the top graduate, she was going to be paraded around like a prize-winning hog.
“Just hurry up,” she tossed back, entering the women’s.
Not surprisingly, she was the only one there – everyone else must have been celebrating somewhere, or hobnobbing with the upper ranks, not still trying to prove themselves. Despite her flippant attitude with Bogata, she knew formals were needed and she would, in fact, be doing something special. As in boring. She stripped out of her ruined wetsuit and took her time in the shower.
The hot water felt good, her skin slightly sensitive where the Elf had healed her wounds.
Tying her red dreadlocks back with a white bandana, she looked at herself in the mirror as she stretched her white formal uniform over her girlish figure. No matter what she put on, it was the first thing men noticed about her – not her dark blue face, not her skill with the water element, not her sailing ability. She sighed, assuming that at twenty-three, she could have been worse off. Smoothing out any potential wrinkles, she slipped on her jacket, pinned her medals on her chest, put on a pair of blue dress pants with a white stripe down the side, and tied her perfectly shined black boots.
Making sure everything was where it should be, she nodded at herself and turned around, staring at a large painting on the wall of the barracks. Celeste had always liked this one – Tempus sailors manipulating the waters, sworca whales jumping the waves, merpeople below holding the Wave Connection, that legendary necklace of silver and sapphires said to give one the power of the ocean itself. If you believed the old legends, anyway.
Pulling herself away from the painting and exiting the dorm, she found Bogata waiting for her. Though he was skinny and a little short for his age, he looked nice in his formals. He smiled.
“You look much better,” she said.
“You don’t look half bad yourself,” he said. But his smile slipped quickly and he looked around. She was instantly on alert, but wasn’t sure why. Her stomach did that summersault again. “Listen, Celeste, there’s something I need to tell –”
“DUMAS!”
Celeste turned. Holy crap, it’s the admiral!
Bogata snorted, a look of disdain crossing his face for a moment.
Celeste and Bogata then snapped to attention. “Good afternoon, Admiral DeKalb, sir!” they said in unison and saluting.
Admiral DeKalb walked up, a crisp white shirt and pants without a crease hung on his tall frame, barely concealing heavy muscles. His blue skin could be seen through the shirt. An anchor within a star decorated his chest, showing his rank. “At ease, recruits.” The two stepped to parade rest as the admiral paced in front of them. “Today is a momentous day. It’s a day of celebration and a day of firsts. Celeste Dumas, very few have achieved the marks you put up in the Bastion. That is a feat worthy of congratulations.”
“Thank you, sir,” Celeste said, unsure of where this was going.
Still pacing, his highly polished knee-high black boots squeaked every time he about-faced. “I know you’re excited to join the rest of your class and the Tempus nation in celebration, but I must talk to you first. As you two undoubtedly know, despite all our efforts, we are very shorthanded on the leadership front. Our most experienced captains have taken their vessels to investigate the reported sightings of pirates and odd things happening up and down the entire east coast – probably nothing, but it’s our responsibility to do our due diligence. The others are busy freighting cargo, rooting out sea monsters, protecting private vessels, or rescuing humans too ignorant to stay close to shore. Add to that the graduation ceremony, and we find ourselves very shorthanded indeed, yet we still have missions that need to be taken care of.”
“Sir,” they said.
“We’ve also decided that its high time we rely on some of our younger talent and promote those who are skilled enough much faster than we have in the past. The king and his admirals have been arguing over this for a while now, but this seems the right time to implement this new strategy.
“And that’s where you come in, Miss Dumas.”
“Sir?”
He handed her a piece of paper and spoke as she read it. “An emergency distress signal was received via telestone from a private vessel called Spirit five minutes ago, located just off the coast near the village of Newark southeast of here.”
Telestones, the Dwarf invention that allowed the people of Terraunum to communicate over long distances were standard on all ships. If the Spirit called in a distress signal, it must have been something bad – there were stiff penalties for false alarms to the Tempus Navy.
The admiral continued. “They didn’t state what their emergency was, only that they needed immediate assistance. I’m sure it’s nothing, maybe they lost their sails or something simple. But the fact remains we have to send someone.” He stopped and squared up in front of her, reaching out and pinning the Waves and Anchor on her shirt. “This should have been done in front of a crowd, but time is of the essence. Celeste Dumas, I hereby commission you the newest captain in the Watuaga fleet. Your first mission: investigate the distress signal, and help the Spirit in whatever they need while protecting all lives and honoring the code of the ocean. Your ship is the Ajax, one of our fastest clippers. Do you accept?”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“Great! So what do you think, Captain?”
Celeste stammered, “I – I’m honored, sir! This is more than I ever hoped for!” She eyed Bogata before continuing. “But, Admiral, I must report that we were attacked by a giant squid earlier today.” Bogata gave her a scathing look, but she held firm.
“Was that before or after your Gauntlet run?”
She felt herself blush. “After, sir.”
He rubbed his chin. “This is very disturbing. I’ve never known a giant squid to be close to land, let alone here at Watuaga. I’ll have to confer with the king on this.” The admiral straightened up. “Thank you for bringing it to my attention, but that is none of your concern now, Captain. Your assignment remains the same. I expect the Ajax to cast off in less than one hour from Dock Seven. Gather your gear, Captain Dumas. You’ll get your crew at your ship.” He smiled big, clapped her on the shoulder and shook her hand.
“What do you say now, Captain?”
“Thank you sir!” He smiled and she caught sight of Bogata over his shoulder. “Sir, I would request that Cadet Bogata be assigned to my ship under my command.”
The admiral considered a second then shook his head, “Negative, Captain – he’ll get his assignment with the rest of the class.” In her peripherals, Celeste caught Boga practically turning red and straining to keep a neutral face.
“Understood, sir.” What else could she say? She’d asked, that was all she could do…
Admiral Dekalb saluted, which they both returned, said, “If that’s all, then let’s be off with you.” Then turned and walked off.
Celeste was still standing there holding her paper, too shocked to move more, when the Admi
ral turned back. “Oh, and Captain Dumas?”
She gulped. “Yes, sir?”
“That Gauntlet run was impressive. Good luck, Captain, and Godspeed.”
Chapter 4
Celeste stood there in stunned silence as the admiral’s footsteps grew further away. She couldn’t believe it. Captain. Captain! It was everything she’d ever dreamed of, and at only twenty-three years old! Unable to contain herself any longer, she started jumping up and down squealing like a little girl. “Boga! BOGA! Did you hear that! Ha ha! Can you believe it? Captain!” She rushed over and slammed him into a hug so hard, he grunted.
“Yeah, that’s really great,” he said.
“Ha ha!” she said again, pulling back, then becoming serious. “Oh crap, I’ve only got an hour – I’ve got to pack! Come on, come with me. No one’s in the girls’ dorms anyway.”
She grabbed his hand and dragged him in after her, where she found her duffle bag and commenced throwing everything she owned into it.
All modesty forgotten, she changed out of her formals and into something more seaworthy: a looser fitting, lighter white shirt, brown pants, and taller brown boots. Finishing with a sleeveless, long blue jacket, she finally strapped her cutlass onto her hip, and put an assortment of throwing knives in various places all over her body, where they would be within easy reach no matter what position she was in.
Bogata had remained silent the whole time, just watching her pack and talk to herself as she went through her list of items she needed for a sea voyage of unknown duration, every so often saying the word “captain” and making excited hand gestures. As she placed the last of her underwear in her bag, he found his voice. “Celeste, you shouldn’t do this.”
She froze, then slowly stood up and scalded him with a look. “Are you insane?”
